How Green is Manhattan?

How Green is Manhattan?

Imagine living in a utopian environmentalist community, enjoying a very small living space with no pesticide-drenched lawn or greenhouse gas-emitting car. Grocery shopping is done on foot and public transportation used almost exclusively. That utopian community is Manhattan.

I recently traveled to New York to see just what the self-proclaimed ‘Capital of The World’ had to contribute to creating balance. I learned that people are making a difference, and a profit, on scales large and small.

Surprising Stats: Eighty-two per cent of Manhattan residents travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s ten times the rate for Americans in general, and eight times the rate for residents of Los Angeles County. New York City is more populous than all but eleven states; if it were granted statehood, it would rank fifty-first in per-capita energy use.*